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I would appose this proposal in this amount as it is a HUGE chunk of money for 4 club members and I person who is on the waiting list but is not a current member, to go to another country shoot on the clubs dime. My question would be, what does the club get in return for this 20K investment? More people on a waiting list to join? More people at our high power matches? At 10 dollars a person (entry fee for a high power shoot?) we would have to attract 2000 more shooters to our events to break even. At the general meeting that this was brought up, the question was asked as to what percentage of the trip is this amount (4K per person) and the response was 80%. As the club Vice President, I would suggest a much lower donation to HELP these shooters fulfill this trip but I don’t see any reason for the club to sponsor 80% of the trip. I could see covering the shooters shirts and hats (with CSF logos) and maybe some ammo. I would think somewhere in the 250-500 dollar person range would be more than prudent as we are a NON PROFIT and have a building to replace. If we approve this donation, where do they stop? Are we then liable to sponsor every other members shoot to where ever they would like to go? I appose this as written and will vote no at the November general meeting when this is voted on.

100% agree. I think a better use of money would be for the high power team to promote what they already do. Get information on the website, social media, and promote to club members at a minimum. How many club members even know about the high power team, much less what they do, much less how to participate, and the general public knows even less about it. So for the club to put out $20,000 for 5 people to show up for an event like this is not a prudent use of funds.

If this is truly a $20,000 expense, as I am reading above, I definitely feel that the entire membership should be able to vote on it, either by paper ballot or email. We have 1,000 member s. How many attend the meetings? A very small percentage I think. That small a number should not be able to decide on such a large expenditure. Actually, I am quite surprised that the Club is considering donating that much in order to enable a few shooters to participate in a match. What do the other 995 members get out of it ?

If we really do have $20,000 extra laying in the coffers why not consider lowering the dues instead? If it were put out for vote I have a hunch I know which way the vote would go .

No offense to the shooters or the Club . It’s just a matter of benefitting the most members with the money we have.

No one said the club is considering anything. Two members came to a meeting to ask. In light of that ask, it was decided to put out the information to the club about the request to see what some in the general membership thought and defer voting on the request to the next general meeting.

Also, if a ballot was sent out for every single expenditure a) not much would get done and b) there is a significant cost and effort in mailing out ballots and then counting them. If you want to know the business goings on of the club, you need to come to the meeting. I can tell you from first hand experience that it is almost always the same people at the meetings with a few exceptions. It is highly encouraged for the membership to participate more in the club proceedings and volunteering.

Just wanted to add: this is not a Highpower Division request. We are a group of members asking the Club for assistance. The idea here is that members are asking for assistance to further the international shooting presence of USA and CSF shooters. There is not going to be an ongoing request for funds for local shooting trips; this is for International and USA Team shooting. The Club has been supportive in the past to junior shooting; why not for adult shooting activities too? Also, the Club is non-profit and could use this support to support our non-profit status with IRS. If anyone is not aware, CSF is a big-time US Rifle Team training area. The Under-25 Teams for 2011 and 2015 and US Palma Team and Veterans Team for several cycles has had members on the rosters in the World Championships.

I would also vote no since there are many other pressing needs such as the new building and paving the hill. Assisting these 5 members would create a prescedent for other members to request funding of their personal expenditures as well.

Page 2 of the 2017 Updated Bylaws states: “Earnings shall not benefit individuals or stake-holders.” I assume some if not all of the participants in this funding request are Life Members/Property Members, but even if they are “just members”, call me stingy but $4000 per person seems like an individual benefit. Vote NO

I agree Kirk that the club doesn’t want to send out ballots for every expenditure but when it’s such a large sum of money (20′,000$)the members should have the opportunity to vote on it. I’m sure the vote would be close to unanimous NO!

Sounds like a personal benefit of the highest order! Respectfully, I am surprised the board has even considered putting this out to the full membership for consideration.

In my opinion, club money should only be spent on items that benefit the entire membership, not just a few individual members. What possible ROI argument can be made for spending 10-15% of the clubs entire annual dues intake to send a handful of members to a shoot in New Zealand?

There are so many other improvements (building upgrades, road paving, maintenance) where money can be more effectively spent.

I was at the last meeting when the $20,000 request was presented to the membership and Board. I spoke up and shared why I would vote NO. Based on the atmosphere in the room, I’m willing to bet that every member present, including the entire Board opposed this request. If it would have been voted on that night, it would have failed. Next time I’ll suggest we just follow policy…there was no need to table this.

That being said, the public accusations here and coming via email are uncalled for. The Board did not make this request. The Board certainly is not “considering’ this request because that’s not how things are done. It is up to the membership and only the membership. Which is why the Board called upon you, the membership, to come and vote at the next meeting. When a request is presented, the membership votes on it. The Board cannot pick and choose and allow some requests to be voted on and not others. Any member can make a request of any kind. You can request the club to buy you a new car if you’d like. Nothing is stopping you. The membership will vote no and you’ll leave disappointed.

Come to the next meeting and vote. Paper, printing and postage for ballots cost the club over $1000. Online voting has been discussed in the past. Our new VOLUNTEER tech guys have done a great job so far and maybe this will be possible in the future. We’ll see.

Again, please come to the meeting or any meeting and meet your volunteer Board. They are working tirelessly to keep our club working for all of us. Improvements to our range are in the works. Please get involved with your club. Be an active part of the decision making and see how you can help.

This disappoints and frustrates me because this request of what I’ll call an outrageous amount of money only puts doubt of what else can possibly come up in the future. Obviously my vote will be no. I wish the by laws read so that if one requests something of his nature, a ballot must be sent to all members at the requesters expense. Perhaps that would curb unreasonable requests. I understand it’s a choice of mine to miss the club meetings, but my wife, kids and business come first and I don’t have the time. I choose to be a silent member 99% of the time and it’s frustraiting I have to put my family 2nd in order to vote on what I believe to be an unreasonable request. Respectfully,
Brian

1) The CSF board is not proposing or supporting this. We only offered to publicize the request here on our website.
2) The current process of mailing and counting paper ballots is very costly. We will avoid this when we can.
3) Individual members who are interested in privately supporting this effort can contact Gary Rasmussen.

Sean, Not sure if you read the response that Brian made or just didn’t address it. The way I interpret Brian’s response is if someone makes a ridiculous request tell them that the club can vote on it but you will have to pay for the ballots and the count of the votes . Seems like a great idea to me. No where in Brian’s text did he say that CSF is supporting this proposal. I’m also a a 99% silent member but when something this ridiculous comes up it makes me respond!

I do not think that this is the best use of funds for our club. However if they were to make a gofundme page or something similar I would probably chip in a few bucks.

Unfortunately I travel for work and am gone most Monday and Tuesday nights so I miss most of the club meetings. The few that I have been able to attend have had very few of our membership in attendance. It might make people more interested in attending if we could post the minutes from the meetings somewhere on the website or maybe even emailed out. If people can see what is being discussed they might have more of an interest to come.

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About CSF

Cascade Shooting Facilities is a non-profit organization which has been serving the Western Washington community since 1947. We offer a full range of outdoor and indoor sporting ranges which include archery, pistol, shotgun, high power rifle, and black powder to members.